74 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



ACOUST 22, 1907. 



NURSERY NEWS. 



AMKBICAN ASSOCIATION OF NUBSEBTMEN. 



Pros., J. W. Hill, Des Moines, la.j Vlce-pres., 

 C. M. Bobbs, Brldireport, Ind.: Sec'y, Geo. O. 

 Seager, Rocuester; Treas., C. L. Yates, Rochester. 

 The 33d annual convention will be hela at Mil- 

 waukee, June, 1908. 



Nurserymen often will find profit in 

 the perusal as well as the publication 

 of advertisements in the classified de- 

 partment of the Review. 



The big peony growers are missing the 

 orders of the men who a couple of years 

 ago were planting acres apiece, but who 

 now have become sellers instead of buy- 

 ers. 



Although all nursery work looking to 

 next season's supply was late last spring, 

 the growing season generally has been 

 so good that the late start has been 

 made up for. 



William; A. Peterson, proprietor of 

 the Peterson Nursery, Chicago, is a di- 

 rector in the State Bank of Chicago, one 

 of the most prosperous financial institu- 

 tions in the city, and takes almost as 

 much pleasure in watching its deposits 

 grow as he does in seeing the peonies 

 bloom in the spring. 



The nurseries of the Pennsylvania rail- 

 road are now so extensive that it has 

 been deemed advisable to organize a for- 

 estry department, and this has been 

 placed in charge of E. A. Sterling, who 

 has been in the government employ in 

 the same capacity. The trees are culti- 

 vated to fill the demand for ties, which 

 are growing scarcer every year. The 

 company owns a number of forests, and 

 there are said to be 20,000 acres in the 

 Allegheny mountains alone. The trees 

 which are being planted now will not 

 be available for nearly forty years. 



THE FUTURE OF THE PEONY. 



I noticed an article in the Keview in 

 regard to the future commercial value 

 and standing of the peony. 1 rather 

 agree with the writer on some points. 

 Flooding the market with flowers at any 

 time has a natural result that cannot 

 fail to bring disappointment and loss to 

 the shipper. Being perishable and not 

 a necessity, there would be considerable 

 risk to large growers. 



But this is not my idea of the proper 

 use of the peony. The field is hardly 

 opened yet and people have not realized 

 the value and beauty of this magnificent 

 plant and its adaptability to our climate. 

 No amount of cold or blizzard has any 

 effect on it. It bears harder usage than 

 most other plants and never fails to re- 

 spond to good treatment. Its uses for 

 public parks, cemeteries and ornamental 

 grounds, etc., have not been half appre- 

 ciated as yet. We have all the western 

 states and Brother Jonathan's best ter- 

 ritories to the north of us, and, by the 

 way, he is waking up, getting his hands 

 out of his pockets and sending us nice 

 orders, and I presume peonies are per- 

 fectly at home up to the arctic circle. I 

 think every florist should have several 

 hundreds of the plants, assorted kinds, 

 for his own use. He would find them 

 both pleasant and profitable to have. 

 Send a choice dozen to a family in dis- 

 tress. It will pay you better than 

 money. I used to furnish them free for 

 Decoration day, but they soon rose in 

 value and now command a good price to 



private parties. In fact, I rarely have 

 enough. I have had people put off par- 

 ties and meetings simply because peonies 

 would not be in in time. I might speak 

 also of the lasting qualities of the peony 

 compared with house-grown flowers; the 

 latter may be said to be as fleeting as a 

 dream, however beautiful they may have 

 been a short time before. 



F. A. Baller. 



PREPARATION OF LAND. 



At the Detroit meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Association of Nurserymen, papers 

 on ' ' Preparing Nursery Land ' ' were 

 read by E. G. Chase and John Sieben- 

 thaler. Mr. Chase said: "Late in the 

 fall we plow our land to a depth of ten 

 or twelve inches and leave it until spring, 

 when, just before planting, it is dragged 

 and marked. Where a machine is used 

 for opening the crevice in which seed- 

 lings are placed, the compact soil of the 

 late fall plowing is no objection, but 

 rather a help. There are certain sections 

 of the country where porous sub-soil is 



found, which does not make it absolutely 

 necessary to tile drain; yet it has been 

 my experience that drainage pays, no 

 matter what the soil is. 



"In selecting land for planting nur- 

 sery stock, it is essential that land be 

 chosen which has not been used for nur- 

 sery purposes, although we have found 

 it is no disadvantage to follow pit fruits 

 with seed fruits and vice versa, and after 

 these plantings are taken off, the land 

 may be used again for ornamental trees, 

 shrubs and small fruits. This without 

 any fertilizers. We have found it ad- 

 vantageous to fertilize for roses, cur- 

 rants and gooseberries, no matter what 

 the condition of the soil is. Cover crops 

 make a good fertilizer, and we have 

 found it very beneficial to turn under a 

 meadow late in the fall. We prefer, 

 however, a good growth of clover." 



Mr. Siebenthaler said that land that 

 has been ' ' treed ' ' should be planted in 

 corn or other cultivated crop for one year 

 in order to get rid of all roots left in the 

 ground. The next season sow in clover 



The Veeping Villow. 



THE WEEPING WILLOW. 



The willows are among our commonest 

 trees — so common, in fact, that they are 

 not prized as they deserve, for they are 

 among our most rapid growers and are 

 useful wherever effects are wanted quick- 

 ly. They are hardy throughout the tem- 

 perate zone and will grow in almost any 

 sort of a situation. They need not, as 

 many suppose, be planted only in moist 

 places, though in such localities they 

 thrive prodigiously. They propagate 

 easily; indeed, many years ago the father 

 of the writer of this note had occasion 

 to protect an island in an Illinois river 

 which was annually covered with the 

 drift of spring freshets, and did it by 

 setting a row of green posts of Salix 

 alba close together all about the island. 

 In the course of time practically every 

 post made roots and, being kept trimmed 



to make an upright growth, the island 

 is to-day surrounded by a waving wall 

 of green more than fifty feet high. The 

 trees are set so close together that now 

 it is impossible to pass between them in 

 many places. 



The weeping willow is the best for 

 specimen planting. The long, pendulous 

 branches are very graceful, and it makes 

 an admirable shade tree. Many fine 

 specimens are to be seen in parks and 

 large private grounds, but it is doubtful 

 if anywhere in the United States there 

 is a more perfect specimen than the 

 Salix Babylonica illustrated herewith. It 

 is growing on the grounds of Notre 

 Dame University, at South Bend, Ind. 

 When it was planted, a comparatively 

 few years ago, as the ages of large trees 

 go, it was such a plant as can be bought 

 for 50 cents to 75 cents in any good 

 nursery. 



